


flicker

by aishiteita



Series: UNDER THE VERY VERY BLUE MOON [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Massage, Mild Hurt/Comfort, idolverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7256815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aishiteita/pseuds/aishiteita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hoseok sees Kihyun through a veil of flames.</p>
            </blockquote>





	flicker

**Author's Note:**

> SCREECHES YALL THAT KIHO MOMENT W THE RAMEN AND GENDER YALLLLLLLLLLLL
> 
> tfw u google monsta x for the first time and all that comes up are the news of wonho and kihyun bein thugs 10 years ago ffffffffffffff
> 
> also baCK TO THe broadcast i. damn wonho dAMN DAMNNN

"You're really bad at games, Hyun."

The convenience store beeps in welcome as the door swings open for two boys, wrapped up in parkas and masks.

"Shut it, hyung. You lost too."

The cashier can't care less, flipping through the pages of a sports tabloid as the door shuts itself automatically. Refrigerators humming along with the drag of tired feet means it's one in the morning; post-promotion, post-practice, post-app broadcasts for fans, a time for peace save for the two losers who have been forced to go on a ramyeon run across the street because they didn't get Changkyun's memo that _the ones who drink water first after practice lose._

"Pick your poison," Kihyun mutters, leaving Hoseok alone to scrutinize his favorite aisle, as if he hasn't got all the brands memorized already.

Hoseok perks up as he notices Kihyun glancing at the drinks, icy cold and cheap and _extremely_ tempting. "No alcohol during promotions," he warns, and Kihyun dismisses him with a wave, eyes trained on the yoghurt milk Minhyuk and Jooheon love so much.

"That's not what I meant by poison, you noodle freak," the younger jeers, picking up all the bottles of yoghurt his small hands can carry. "Don't worry."

Nodding, Hoseok returns to his little haven of sodium, dismayed because his favorite flavor has only one packet left, and it's all crumbly. "Which brand did you use last time, Hyun?"

"Uh, you mean the one I made with chicken or?"

"Yeah, that one," Hoseok says. "C'mere, I'm so tired I can't read anymore."

Kihyun obeys him wordlessly, but he's glaring and Hoseok doesn't care at all, waving his arm recklessly for the younger to walk over to his aisle. It's hard to see with his cap and mask on, and Hoseok doesn't realize he's hit Kihyun's shin until he hears the dull thumps of plastic bottles meeting the floor.

" _Hyung_ ," Kihyun groans, chasing after a lone bottle which has managed to roll all the way to the opposite side. Hoseok bursts into a fit of giggles watching the younger run like a toddler; knees bent and arms akimbo as they lunge down for the drinks. "Hyung, stop laughing and help me out."

"Sorry, it's just cute," Hoseok teases, "you look like one of the toys we saw in Japan." He ends up chortling again when Kihyun flips him off in response before walking away, so he rises up, chases after another of the fallen bottles. Hoseok can't be bothered to properly bend his knees, which is how he ends up pulling his right hamstring as he picks up the stupid drink. He grits his teeth, hissing through the jolt of pain, and it's apparently loud enough to alert Kihyun, who stuffs the bottles down his pockets before rushing to Hoseok's side.

He's never going to admit how flattered he is by the gesture, what with Kihyun looking slightly flustered but mostly confused by what's presented before him. _Must be a lovely sight_ , Hoseok thinks, with his body bent, legs stiff, right hand reaching out for a plastic bottle that just rolls, rolls away from him while the other clutches at the back of his left thigh.

"Pulled a muscle," Hoseok huffs, and Kihyun gives him a condescending grin, leaving Hoseok to his own grief as he picks up the remaining bottles before properly handing them over to the cashier. Kihyun patters about the store, grabbing familiar snacks and a few jumbo ramyeon packets, making sure to get the ones in the far back because Hoseok has always been picky about noodles he can't slurp.

"You'll live," is all he cruelly responds with, and while Hoseok does stand back up eventually, his left thigh feels funny. The pain is bearable enough that he doesn't have to limp, and that's always a good thing. Kihyun notices injuries like a fucking hawk, and if anyone from the group were to be caught with one, oh—Hoseok can still remember Hyungwon's distorted face from a couple week's back, when he complained about having an ache in his shoulders—Kihyun has heavy hands he knows how to use well.

 _Too_ well.

The cashier looks over their purchase, scanning them lethargically so to the point where Hoseok doesn't feel all that lazy anymore. He wants to crack a joke about it, but turning his head to look at Kihyun gets him tracing the younger's gaze all the way to the tobacco shelf behind the cash register. Hoseok hears an audible gulp, and belatedly realizes it's his when it's Kihyun's turn to stare.

"It's been a while, huh?" the younger sighs wistfully, corners of his mouth curled ever so slightly.

"God, don't remind me," Hoseok whines, nudging Kihyun with his elbow. "It's been what—almost ten years for me?"

"Same." The cashier scans the last few bottles of yoghurt, and the little bubble for just the two of them bursts when a foreign voice croaks out the total amount.

"Want some?" Hoseok tempts while Kihyun digs into his wallet for spare change. "There's this tiny corner right up the fifth floor—"

"Ah," Kihyun tuts, clucking his tongue in mock disdain while shaking his head. "No smoking while you're still an idol, hyung."

Money paid, change received, and out Kihyun goes, sparing Hoseok no sympathy by making the older carry their purchase and letting the door shut closed in his face.

***

"Hey, hyung," Kihyun calls from their living room. Everyone else has fallen asleep, but they've just washed up, and Hoseok can still taste artificial mint in the crevices between his teeth.

He heeds Kihyun's call, sitting carefully before the younger because his leg still feels odd and no, no he doesn't need Kihyun's accursed steel fingers at this moment in time. "What?"

"Gimme your left leg," the younger commands, and Hoseok immediately slides back on his ass in retreat.

"No, hell no," he protests, trying to keep it down, but Kihyun is now crawling towards him, and in the moonlit dark, it's unsettling.

"Shut up and listen to me, Hoseok-hyung," Kihyun tries again, sterner this time even though he's just whispering. "I'm serious here, we still have promotions."

Kihyun's arm is outstretched, fingers relaxed and—not as threatening as Hoseok thought they would be, no. Hoseok can't see any popping veins, any bulging muscle, any flexed fingers. Reluctantly, he scoots closer, and before he gets the chance to stretch his left leg out, Kihyun has already made a grab for it; Hoseok flinches at the solid warmth of Kihyun's palm on his thigh, stops moving, stops breathing altogether until Kihyun rolls his eyes and brings himself closer to Hoseok instead.

"It may hurt a bit," Kihyun warns him, soft. "But just bear with it, alright?"

"That sounds lewd as hell," Hoseok comments, but it gets choked off in the end as fingers press into his flesh, working themselves against a particularly stubborn knot that has been bothering him the whole day. "God, how do you know?"

"You think it isn't obvious whenever we take a break and I see you rubbing the back of your thighs like an idiot?"

Hoseok's protest barely makes it out of his throat before a groan catches up to it; his knee jolts in reflex, and Kihyun brings his other hand around Hoseok's calf to keep his leg steady. Deft fingers don't stop massaging his sore thigh, working through knots and sorting out pulled muscle. When Kihyun said that it would hurt a bit, he wasn't kidding—it actually _hurts_ , and Hoseok can't do anything but clench his fists and bite his lip because he would hate to wake his sleeping groupmates.

"Less pressure?" Kihyun offers.

Hoseok nods in reply, unable to get any words out as the heat of Kihyun's palms continue to permeate through skin, pressing gentler now, but trailing up dangerously close to his ass before going back down to the back of his knee. Hoseok still clenches his fists and bites his lip, because at this point, he would hate to let any noise out in Kihyun's face as the younger massages him like it's his fucking job. It would embarrass them both, and Hoseok isn't going to be the one getting an ego boost between the two of them.

"Your toes are curled," Kihyun points out, and Hoseok feels his face flushing, thankfully unnoticeable in the dark. He relaxes them, but the moment he does, whatever is happening at the back of his left thigh feels tenfold, and Hoseok has to bring a hand up to stifle his moan.

A beat or two passes awkwardly between them before Kihyun shies away from Hoseok, shoulders quaking in silent laughter. His fingers have stopped massaging Hoseok's thigh, but they're still there, no longer warm but _hot_ , and if he doesn't stop laughing this instant, Hoseok is sure that his face would be hotter than Kihyun's palms.

"You better not pop a boner, hyung," he taunts, leaning back in close to Hoseok, and this time, his right hand isn't the only one that's working. Hoseok wants to shrivel up and die because the gentle pressure actually feels _really good_ , and now it's on his thigh as well as his calf, insane heat enveloping his entire being when in reality, it's only two small palms on his left leg.

"But you're really good, Kihyun-ah," Hoseok manages to say, a bit breathless, but without any unnecessary noise, and he wants to give himself a medal for it. "Pretty sure the rest of us would pop one if you were to go this gentle on them."

"Shut it, hyung," Kihyun scoffs, but there's no bite to his words. Kihyun has always been soft when it's this late, when he's tired.

"Hey," Hoseok confesses, "I actually still have a packet of Marlboros, unopened. Wanna share?"

Kihyun doesn't look up from Hoseok's leg, but presses so _hard_ Hoseok's forced to do a double-take and choke out an embarrassing squeal as his hands reach up to clutch at Kihyun's sweater.

" _Sorry_ , sorry." Hoseok wheezes, "I was joking, god, I'll get _kicked out_ if I try shit here."

The massaging stops, but Kihyun's palms don't rest, absentmindedly trailing up and down Hoseok's leg as he lets his head fall onto the other's shoulder. "Seriously though, quit it. You're a vocalist. One with a weak-ass throat, at that."

"I'm sorry my genetics have failed you."

They remain like that, unmoving save for Kihyun's wandering hands, tracing over Hoseok's thigh tattoo while the older wraps his arms around Kihyun's smaller frame.

"Ex-clubber ulzzang now has tattoos and a nipple piercing," Kihyun quotes from memory, smiling. "You're crazy, hyung."

"Your 2007 bowlcut was _horrendous_ , Hyun, shut up."

They crack up at that, burying their faces into each other's shoulders as they stifle giggles with all their might. Kihyun is so close now that he's practically in Hoseok's lap, and the fact sends Hoseok's heart into an overdrive.

"What are you, a middle-schooler?" Kihyun mocks, and Hoseok knows he's caught. "Don't pop a boner."

"Even if I did, I wouldn't want you doing anything to it," Hoseok retorts, basking in how Kihyun's voice becomes warm breath on his shirt, and how it will probably feel really gross come next morning.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

They're still all over each other, voices muffled and faces mushed against cotton as Hoseok revels in the way Kihyun's rough fingertips skim over his inked skin.

"Can I sleep in your bunk for the night?"

It isn't uncommon for Kihyun to make such a request; their beds' top bunks are pretty high up, and after an entire day of dancing, legs just can't climb that much anymore.

Of course, there's more to it than that, but Hoseok knows that Kihyun knows that Hoseok knows. "Sure."

They get back up on their feet with difficulty, fingers clingy and not letting go of each other's sleeves. Hoseok staggers all the way to his bunk, dragging a lighter Kihyun with him, and they get settled under the covers just as clumsily. Hoseok feels an arm draped over his waist, while his still wrap themselves all around Kihyun's petite torso. It's endearing how Kihyun is still trying to rub his previously sore thigh, though their current position makes it so that the younger ends up drawing circles on Hoseok's hip instead. It's comforting.

Hoseok can't quite remember when it first started; probably all the way back then when they were still trainees, when they tried to search themselves on Naver for the first time, and Kihyun was the only one he can talk to afterwards because no one wants an idol group with a former scene kid in it.

Since then, this arrangement of theirs sorts itself out once or twice a month, maybe thrice when their schedules are packed, when it gets too tiring even to just gather body heat for yourself. Kihyun would ask to sleep in his bottom bunk, and Hoseok would comply. It would be an entire night of him remembering what it feels like to be in complete peace, arms around Kihyun while the younger holds him close, holds him so tight their feet are forced to get tangled and Hoseok completely melts, no longer knowing which way is what, where he starts, where Kihyun ends. He'd nuzzle into Kihyun's chest out of habit, mouthing against his collarbone, neck, whatever Hoseok can get while the younger does the same, planting barely-there kisses on Hoseok's cheek, his jaw, his chin. Wherever they want, as long as it isn't on the lips.

Because it's already hard enough as it is, and Hoseok doesn't want to let the habit go—he's gotten far too used to the feeling of Kihyun in his embrace, to be able to hold so much warmth while playing with the fire flickering on the other side, just an inch or two away from him.

"Kihyun?"

"Hm?"

A kiss on the forehead, then on the cheek. Hoseok's always liked Kihyun's tired kisses; a light peck of chapped lips on his skin.

"Thanks."

Kihyun's mouth curls, just slightly, and that's enough for now, Hoseok thinks.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is so rushed it's 4 am i need to head to the bank in the morning   
> what is character????? LMAOs intO SPACE


End file.
